At Odds with the Midwife Read online

  From high school crush to enemy number one

  Gemma has always been a rescuer. Birds with broken wings, abandoned baby raccoons...anything that needs help. But when it comes to her lifelong crush, doctor Nathan Smith, she has to curb her natural instincts. All of them. Nathan doesn’t trust midwives, and he doesn’t want her help.

  Back in town to restore the community hospital his father bankrupted, Nathan’s just as determined to shut down the birthing center. How can Gemma Whitmire save her center and prove Nathan—and the other critics—wrong? And more important, how can she stop falling for him?

  “You’re a midwife.”

  Gemma stared at him, at his sudden stiffness, the way his brown eyes had narrowed. Alarm bells clanged in her head, but she spoke calmly. “Yes, I am.”

  “And you’re planning to open a birthing center?”

  “Yes, in your father’s old offices next to the hospital.” She lifted her chin, held his gaze. There had been a time when she would have backed down, apologized, tried to explain her position. Those days were gone. “Exactly as you plan to establish a family practice and reopen the hospital.”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Both facilities are for people’s health.”

  “No, the hospital cures people and keeps them well—”

  “Fortunately, giving birth isn’t an illness.”

  Their eyes met—hers defiant, his resolute. Gemma’s heart sank as she imagined the swirl of objections that were about to come at her. She’d heard them all before, fought them all before.

  Somehow, it was disappointing to know she was about to hear them from Nathan.

  Dear Reader,

  Although I was born and raised in an Arizona copper-mining town, both of my parents were from Oklahoma, where I still have many relatives. Visits to rural southeastern Oklahoma fill me with happiness and nostalgia as I recall summers there—swimming in the creeks, exploring with my cousins or lying on the bed on the screened-in porch listening to bobwhite quail whistling in the underbrush. Although the area has never really been my home, it feels like home because of all the loved ones I have there.

  Gemma Whitmire has returned to her hometown of Reston, Oklahoma, to work as a midwife and to open a birthing center. At the same time, Dr. Nathan Smith, who has no use for midwives, has come home, too, with plans to reopen the local hospital that was forced to close due to his father’s embezzlement. He also hopes to make peace with his troubled family history.

  I hope you enjoy Nathan and Gemma’s journey to overcome their differences and find their happy-ever-after.

  Happy reading,

  Patricia

  At Odds with the Midwife

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Patricia Forsythe

  Patricia Forsythe probably would never have become a writer if a seventh-grade teacher hadn’t said that Patricia’s story characters were, well, crazy. Patricia didn’t think that was such a bad thing. After all, she has a large extended family of decidedly interesting and unusual people who provide ideas and inspiration for her books. In Patricia’s opinion, that only makes them more lovable and worthy of a place in literature.

  A native Arizonan, Patricia has no concept of what a real winter is like, but she is very familiar with summer. She has held a number of jobs, including teaching school, working as a librarian and as a secretary, and operating a care home for developmentally disabled children. Her favorite occupation, though, is writing novels in which the characters get into challenging situations and then work their way out. Each situation and set of characters is different, so sometimes the finished book is as much of a surprise to her as it is to the readers. She is the author of many romance novels with many more to come.

  Books by Patricia Forsythe

  Harlequin Heartwarming

  Her Lone Cowboy

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  This book is dedicated to my beloved little sister, Betty Forsythe. Even though she never had an easy life, she brought endless joy to everyone else’s.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM MARRYING THE SINGLE DAD BY MELINDA CURTIS

  CHAPTER ONE

  FEET SLAPPING THE PAVEMENT—right, left, right, left—Nathan Smith pounded down High Street, turned west onto Main Street and took the hill that led out of town. He hadn’t been this way yet on his thrice-weekly runs, but there had been a time, when he was eighteen, that he couldn’t seem to take this hill fast enough. Driving the new SUV his dad had bought him for graduating as valedictorian, he’d gunned the engine, eager to leave Reston behind. Waiting for his university classes to start in the fall hadn’t even been an option. He’d enrolled in some summer courses so he’d have an excuse to leave days after graduation. He’d sped down Main Street until it became Highway 6 and, since then, had kept his subsequent visits home both rare and short.

  He couldn’t quite believe he was back. His return to Reston had been challenging, not to mention exhausting. There were times he questioned why he’d come back, but he knew the answer. Guilt was at the top of the list, followed closely by its companion, shame.

  He forced his mind to veer away from that. Even though it was the truth, if he focused on it for too long, he would never move ahead. In the project he’d started it was critical to keep going forward. There were more problems than solutions, many issues he didn’t yet know how to solve. Somehow, his nighttime runs on the quiet streets helped him see his way forward. Something about the rhythm of his feet, the focus on his breathing as he ran through the cool spring evenings, helped him make sense of the daily complications of his life and the Herculean task he’d taken on.

  The full moon lit his way as he ran along the pavement, then he swerved to the edge when a car came by. He waved, not because he knew the driver, but because it was expected in this rural pocket of the world. Some bred-in-the-bone habits never died.

  Half a mile out of town, he crossed the bridge over the Kinnick River and slowed to a walk as he caught his breath. He’d given up his running schedule when he’d sprained his ankle a few months ago and now, when it started to ache, he knew it was time to slow down or take a break.

  As he fast walked past the old Kinnick Campground, he glanced to the left and saw a light. Pausing, Nathan stood, panting lightly and using the tail of his white T-shirt to wipe away sweat as he gazed into the darkness. The camp was deserted. The Whitmires, who had owned it during his growing-up years, had left town. He’d heard they’d come in to some money. The camp, with its private, well-stocked lake, where they had once hosted hikers, birders and fishermen, had been abandoned for the past fifteen years, though he was sure the local citizenry fished the lake as if it was public property.

&n
bsp; Nate frowned at the overgrown bar ditches on each side of the road. He wasn’t sure he’d take the chance of fishing in the small lake. Weeds that had been beaten back for decades while the Whitmires were in residence had eagerly taken over the property, providing hiding places for field mice, bobwhite quail and the snakes that fed on them.

  Whoever was at the campground now wasn’t of the four-legged variety, though.

  “Squatters,” he murmured. He knew they camped out anyplace they could find, usually tucked back in these mountains, where they could grow marijuana, operate stills or cook meth. If that’s what these squatters were up to, he couldn’t imagine why they’d want to be this close to the highway. Of course, it was entirely possible that they were either crazy or desperate. He reached for his cell phone to call the police, but quickly realized the signal, always spotty in this area, was nonexistent tonight. He was going to have to find a better cell-phone service. It was critical for people to be able to get in touch with him.

  Annoyed, he started to run again, but had taken only a few steps when he cursed under his breath and turned down the rutted lane instead. He couldn’t walk away from this situation—another lifelong Reston habit. Approaching slowly, he glanced around. In the glow from the full moon, he could see that someone had been working on this place. He stopped and sniffed the air. Fresh paint. That wasn’t something squatters would do, so maybe new owners had taken residence. That conclusion didn’t turn him around, though, but drew him forward.

  He’d always thought there was something about the smell of fresh paint that promised a new beginning, a positive change. Change was something desperately needed in this town.

  The Whitmires had lived in a small century-old log cabin that Ben Whitmire—who’d renamed himself Wolfchild—had updated and renovated by hand. Nate had never been inside, but his mother had described it as “primitive.” He also remembered an old tale about the place being haunted but didn’t know what form that haunting took.

  Someone had cleared the weeds and brush that had no doubt grown up around the door and piled it into a massive stack for burning, or maybe to be picked up by the county and turned into mulch. Abandoned tires had been repurposed into planters with some kind of spiky plants growing in them. He applauded the use of the tires. It was better than having them end up in the landfill.

  “Home improvement squatters?” he questioned, even though he was quickly talking himself out of the idea that unauthorized people were on the property. He followed the path around the cabin to the back, where the light was coming from. When he turned the corner, he could hear music that sounded like some kind of wind instrument caught in an endless loop. It was as though the same few bars were playing over and over, with an occasional flat note thrown in for variety.

  Wincing at the repetitive sound, he glanced around to see a floor lamp set up outside the back door with the cord snaking inside. It cast a soft glow on the surroundings—and on what looked like a woman digging a grave.

  The sight rocked him to a stop, and although she hadn’t seen him, Nate stepped behind a blossoming crape myrtle to see what she was doing.

  A large, rectangular patch of sod had been turned over and she was busily breaking up the chunks of dirt, smashing into them with the side of the shovel blade. Too shallow for a grave. He shook his head at his own morbid thoughts.

  As she worked, she sang words he couldn’t understand. They were out of rhythm with the music he could now see was coming from a tablet computer set up at the base of the lamp.

  The woman had curly red hair that flowed down her back and lifted when a breeze happened by. She wore cutoff jeans with black rain boots and a yellow tank top that revealed toned arms, streaked with dirt.

  He needed to let her know he was there, but he was enjoying the sight of her working.

  Turning around and leaving before she saw him was certainly an option, but now that he was here, he wanted to find out what was going on and, more importantly, who she was.

  “Hello,” he called out.

  She didn’t respond.

  “Excuse me. Hello.” He took a few steps forward, but she still didn’t answer. Now he could see potted plants lined up, ready to go into the ground. She was planting something. At night.

  Thinking that she might be hard of hearing, Nate stepped forward, reaching out a hand to wave at the moment she tossed the shovel aside and bent to pick up one of the potted plants lined up at her feet.

  The woman turned her head, saw a hand coming at her and exploded.

  Grabbing his arm, she stepped forward to throw him off balance. Then she swept out her foot to knock his feet out from under him.

  Nate landed on his left side with a whoosh of breath. His hand slammed down on the sharp edge of the shovel blade, shooting pain up his arm.

  The girl grabbed the shovel away from him with one hand and jerked earbuds from her ears with the other. She let them fall and they dangled from the MP3 player attached to her waistband as she moved back several feet and held the shovel out in front of her like a weapon.

  “Who are you?” she demanded. “What do you want?”

  “I—I saw...” Nate stopped to catch his breath.

  “You saw what? A woman alone who might like some company?” She tossed her head to get her hair out of her face and moved from one foot to the other, ready to do more damage. “Well, you guessed wrong, buddy. As you can see, even though I’m alone here, I can defend myself just fine.”

  “Yeah, I noticed.” He rolled onto his side to sit up, but when he placed his cut hand on the ground, pain raced up his arm. Breath hissed between his teeth as he fell back.

  “What’s wrong?’ she asked, finally seeming to realize he was hurt. “Do you need help? I can help you if you don’t try anything funny.”

  “I can take care of it myself,” he answered testily. “As long as you don’t knock me down again.”

  Dropping the shovel, but making sure it was within reach, she came down onto her knees beside him. She slid her arm under his shoulders and helped him into a sitting position.

  Nate held up his hand and tilted it toward the pale glow from the lamp.

  “Oh, that’s a pretty bad cut,” she said. “You must have hit it on the edge of the shovel.”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “And you’ve managed to grind dirt into it.”

  He couldn’t see her face clearly since the light was behind her, but Nate imagined she was giving him an accusing look.

  “Yeah, well, that sometimes happens when a crazy woman throws me to the ground.”

  “Crazy? I was defending myself!”

  “I was only trying to get your attention.”

  “Why? So you could scare me to death?” She got to her feet and stepped back to watch him stand up, too.

  “I saw the light and thought someone was up to no good.”

  “Yes, someone was. You!”

  Nate tried to smother his temper. “I thought someone was trespassing.”

  “Again. You! This is private property. My property.”

  He paused, staring at her, then walked around her so that she would have to turn to keep an eye on him. When the light hit her face, he recognized her. The red hair—though he didn’t remember it being quite this red—almond-shaped green eyes, the heart-shaped face.

  “Bijou?” he asked.

  “Do I know you?” She frowned at him.

  “Nathan Smith,” he said.

  Surprise flared in her eyes, followed by a fleeting emotion he couldn’t name. Embarrassment? Dismay? She lowered her eyes so he couldn’t read her expression.

  When she didn’t say anything else, he went on, “I thought your parents had sold this place.”

  “No. It’s always stayed in the family.” She gave a small shrug. “Obviously, no one kept it
up.”

  He glanced around. “This is a lot of work. What are you doing back here, Bijou?”

  “I could ask the same of you, Nathan, and the name’s Gemma now. I changed my name the minute I turned eighteen.”

  “What did your parents, Wolfchild and, um, Sunshine, think of that?”

  She reached up and pushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears. “They realized that I was old enough to make my own decisions and they apologized for having given me a name that wasn’t cosmically suited to my personality.”

  Nate hid a smile as he flexed his shoulders. He’d forgotten that her parents talked like that. They had been well-meaning oddballs in this community, but they hadn’t minded being out of step with everyone else in town. He hadn’t thought their daughter was very much like them, seeming to be more conventional—focused on school, friends and small-town life.

  “Bijou is French for Jewel,” he pointed out, his gaze touching on those bright green eyes and richly colored hair.

  “I know.”

  Lifting his uninjured hand, he rubbed his left arm. He was going to be sore and bruised in the morning. “I’m guessing you chose Gemma since Wonder Woman was taken.”

  One corner of her mouth tilted up as she lifted her eyebrows at him. He remembered that expression from years ago.

  He held up his mangled hand. “Is there somewhere I can wash and bandage this before I head home?”

  “Come inside. I’ll bandage it for you.”

  “I’m a doctor. I can do my own bandaging.”

  “I know that, and I’m a registered nurse, so I’ll do the bandaging. It’s my house and they’re my bandages.” Gemma paused to pick up the tablet and shut off the music.

  Nate decided not to pursue the who-will-do-the-bandaging? argument. From what he’d seen so far, he would lose, anyway.

  “That was...interesting music,” he ventured. “But you weren’t listening to it?” He didn’t have a very active imagination and didn’t know why she would listen to one kind of music to block out another.